India moments away from reaching knockout phase before injury-time penalty sent them crashing out of the Asian Cup

Asian Cup wrap: Thailand qualified for the knockout round by the skin of their teeth, while India suffered late heartbreak after an injury-time penalty sent them crashing out of the tournament.

Thailand and the UAE made it through to the knockout stages, while India and Bahrain went crashing out.

Thailand’s decision to change coaches continued to prove to be a masterstroke as they qualified for the knockout round by the skin of their teeth.

India suffered late heartbreak after an injury-time penalty saw the cricket-mad nation go crashing out of the tournament.

Here’s a wrap of all the Asian Cup action!

UAE 1-1 THAILAND

Thailand’s decision to change coaches continued to prove to be a masterstroke as they drew against hosts United Arab Emirates 1-1 to qualify for the next round for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 1972.

UAE started strongly and took the lead less than seven minutes in. Ismail Al Hammadi’s attempted chip came back off the crossbar but Ali Mabkhout headed home the rebound.

Thailand started to get into the match and levelled four minutes before the break when Thitiphan Puangjan took advantage of panic in the UAE defence to bundle the ball past goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.

The War Elephants finished second, a point below UAE.

Thitiphan Puangjan saved the day for Thailand.

INDIA 0-1 BAHRAIN

India suffered late heartbreak after an injury-time penalty saw the cricket-mad nation lose 1-0 to Bahrain and be denied a historic spot in the Asian Cup knockout stages.

India were moments away from reaching the knockout phase for the first time before Jamal Rashed scored a dramatic penalty to cruelly shattered their dreams.

After the defeat, India’s English coach Stephen Constantine announced he would step down after completing his second spell in charge.

Jamal Rashed broke Indian hearts with a late penalty.

Originally published as India moments away from reaching knockout phase before injury-time penalty sent them crashing out of the Asian Cup